Genoa wins NBC wrestling title

BLOOMDALE — With all the success Genoa’s wrestlers have experienced in recent seasons, they have never lost sight of the winning streak in the Northern Buckeye Conference. 

The Comets made it six titles in a row Saturday at Elmwood, as they swamped the field for the championship. Genoa’s score of 247.5 points doubled that of Otsego (123) and Eastwood (121.5). 

“It’s like the first benchmark in our postseason,” Genoa coach Bob Bergman said. “It’s all about trying to peak at that right time. One of our goals is to get every kid in the finals. We weren’t able to do that today, but overall the kids wrestled pretty good and competed well.”

Genoa's Julian Sanchez, top, shown in a dual against Milan Edison this season, was one of nine Comets to win individual titles at Saturday's Northern Buckeye Conference championships.

The Comets had 11 wrestlers in the finals, and nine of them won championships. 

Four wrestlers, Oscar Sanchez (113 pounds), Julian Sanchez (126), Dylan D’Emilio (132), and James Limongi (160), all won their third consecutive NBC individual title. The juniors have a combined 136 victories between them this season.

Oscar Sanchez (29-4) scored a 14-4 major decision against Eastwood’s Brandon Hahn. Julian, his brother, improved to 36-2 with a 18-2 technical fall against Otsego’s Gus Mancuso.

D’Emilio hadn’t lost this season, and this meet was no different. D’Emilio improved to 38-0 with a pin at 5 minutes, 11 seconds against Otsego’s Jesse Wright. 

Limongi (20-13) pinned Otsego’s Cole Steele in 2:36 for the 160 title. 

Genoa’s other five champions were Dustin Morgillo (37- 5) at 138, Kevin Contos (12-0) at 152, Seth Moore (36-6) at 170, Xavier Beach (32-9) at 182, and Noah Koch (37-6) at 285. 

Other titles were captured by Otsego’s Jake Manley at 106 and Cameron Pollard at 120, Rossford’s Austin Eick at 145, Elmwood’s Dylan Hinton at 195, and Eastwood’s Seth Welch at 220. 

The focus now turns back to the team competition for the Comets. Genoa earned the top seed in the state competition, which takes place Feb. 11 at Ohio State University’s St. John Arena. Genoa takes on Bethel-Tate in the quarterfinal round. 

Bethel-Tate is based southeast of Cincinnati. The Tigers earned their regional title with a 45-30 win against Blanchester, while Genoa topped Upper Sandusky 57-18. 

“Now we have some homework to do to find out what we can about Bethel-Tate,” Bergman said.